It's official: a new energy ministry is to be established, Palkovics has resigned

The news about the resignation of László Palkovics, Minister of Technology and Industry began to circulate last Wednesday, but the Hungarian government has not confirmed anything until Monday.

A new energy ministry is to be established, headed by Csaba Lantos, and Minister of Technology and Industry László Palkovics is to leave his post,

Gergely Gulyás, Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, announced at an extraordinary press conference held at the former Carmelite Monastery on Monday.

The Ministry of Technology and Industry will be dissolved and its tasks will be taken over by the ministry for economic development and other ministries. László Palkovics will not be taking up any government post at this time. In an answer to a question, Gulyás said that Viktor Orbán would have liked László Palkovics to stay in the government, in which case the Ministry of Technology and Industry could have remained as it was.

It was last Wednesday morning that we first received information from several independent sources claiming that László Palkovics, Minister of Technology and Industry was leaving his post, and the ministry had already directed the staff at the head of department level regarding preparations for the handover.

As we have learned, Palkovics' decision may have been motivated by differences of opinion on energy policy, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to create an independent ministry to deal with the energy crisis, which means that this area would be taken away from Palkovics and the powers of the remaining ministry would have been greatly reduced.

Palkovics' resignation was mooted once before, in January last year, when 444 reported that he had offered his resignation, but Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told him to forget it.

This year, he caused a stir when he sacked the president of the National Meteorological Service (OMSZ), Kornélia Radics, and the organisation's deputy chairman, Gyula Horváth, after the 20 August fireworks were cancelled, despite there having been a chance for a storm until the very last minute.

Palkovics was the one who – amidst heavy opposition – pushed through the expulsion of CEU, the restructuring of academic research institutes and the change of the higher education model. He has now been tasked with the Hungarian project of China's Fudan University and, allegedly, the reacquisition of Budapest's Liszt Ferenc airport for the state. While his abilities and work ethic are not questioned even by his opponents, the question is often asked: when does the way he executes his tasks raise moral concerns?

Update on 15.11:

On Tuesday, the country found out quite quickly that László Palkovics would not be without a job for long.

Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced via the state news agency, MTI that the company known as N7 Nemzeti Védelmi Ipari Innovációs Holding Zrt (National Industrial Defence Innovation Holding), is being transferred from the Ministry of Technology and Industry to the Ministry of Defence. Interestingly enough, this company also manages the Czech military industry assets formerly owned by the Defence Minister himself.

The CEO of the company will be László Palkovics, the resigned head of the Ministry of Technology and Industry.